I completely agree with the article!
All the theorists state that the Communicative Approach is the best way to teach, and also the teachers. But a few of them put the theory into practice. That's because implementing the Communicative Approach inside the classroom is not easy for a teacher. As Medgyes says, this kind of teacher must be a superwoman, beacuse she has to consider many factors at the same time, and also to be a "perfect person". That's why, most of the times, teachers have the objective of the Communicative Approach, but they don't do it.
Also I like what the author says about the textbook. That it is the safety for those non-native teachers teaching in a non-English speaking country. It is difficult, but I agree that the textbook is not necessary for teaching English. You can do many other things, that will take more time for planning them, but the resuts will be successful, I think.
I agree with you when you write about the use of textbooks, but which activities could you do instead of working with worksheets (the same as the book, or writing on the board). I do agree that we can engage them with interesting activities, but at some point they have to write or practice on a paper. Isn´t it the same as working with a book?
ResponderEliminarThe fact that you can organize the contents and that you are not relying on a book makes you have more freedom.
I also agree about the use of text books. I think that they are worth using and sometimes they offer lots of great material to parctice language. But if we use a text book, we must make sure that we use it as a support for our classes and not as the main material. We can´t let our lesson plans and our classes be ruled by a text book. I think that the most important thing is to provide our students with real life communicative situations, and I don't think we can find many of those in text books.
ResponderEliminarI agree with Angela, it is important the use of text books because most of the time offers a lot of material, it can help the teacher and the students get organized but it can´t be the centered of the teaching. Tachers should create different activities that can be more related to the students needs.
ResponderEliminarThe textbook can provide great material and can lighten the workload for teachers when it comes to preparing material. Thing is that sometimes the book does not suit some particular classes or the pace of the textbooks is not adequate for others. Then it would be better to be able to modify things as WE see fit, and not just try to please everyone but to really help our students.
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